


Burn Wounds

by key_lime_pie



Category: Before the Storm - Fandom, Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-30 10:24:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13949595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/key_lime_pie/pseuds/key_lime_pie
Summary: Chloe Price and Rachel Amber deal with the aftermath of their actions in an AU take of BtS. Will include other characters & the consequences of their actions, too. Heavy focus is on Chloe and Rachel





	1. Prologue

The scent of dried, burnt out wood greeted her first and foremost. Clutching the plastic bag of gloves tightly to her chest, Chloe entered the Old Mill.

The fire had almost destroyed the building entirely, leaving a hollow shell of the lively place it used to be. Chloe was half surprised it was still standing at all. As she came into the first room, her eyes were drawn to the beam with a knife still embedded in it.

Swallowing, she approached the beam and grabbed the knife by its hilt. Tucking the gloves under her arm, she gripped it with both hands and yanked. Wood splintered as the weapon dislodged from the burnt out beam.

Chloe tucked the knife into a loop in the back of her belt for safekeeping. Turning, she hurried to the small, back hallway that had previously led to a giant mosh pit.

“Is he fucking coming or what?” Damon demanded, practically growling.

Chloe rounded the corner to see Rachel’s pale-skinned, skinny mother tied down to a chair, looking dreadful. Above her, Damon stood, menacing, having stopped his pacing only to yell at her.

“I told you,” Sera said, lifting her head and revealing a bruised cheek. “He’s not coming. He doesn’t care about me. He just told you that to string you along. Maybe even to set you up. You should let me go before the cops get here.”

“Shut up!” Damon screamed and struck her so hard, Sera toppled with the chair onto its side.

“Hey!” Chloe yelped, and then instantly regretted not calling the police herself when Damon’s crazed eyes turned on her. Initially, she had wanted to avoid James’ interference by contacting the police, but in hindsight, that decision seemed a little foolish now.

“You?” Damon demanded, immediately beginning to turn on her. He took one step towards her, and Chloe shrunk back. She pulled the bagged gloves out from under her arm and held it out.

“I brought the gloves!” she announced, and Damon halted, looking surprised.

“It was you on the phone?” he asked, and then started laughing. “Hey, Sera, you were right,” he said, suddenly jubilant. “James really doesn’t care.”

Shaking his head, he turned back to Chloe, mirth leaving his eyes.

“Give me the gloves, kid,” he said, taking a step towards her.

Chloe backed up towards the door.

“Stop. Let her go,” she ordered, nodding to Sera, “or I bolt.”

Damon’s features twisted into a scowl.

“You think I can’t catch you?”

“That’s up to you,” Chloe bluffed, trying not to visibly shake, “if you wanna risk your freedom against a sixteen year old track star screaming down to the overpass, you can. Or we can make the damn switch.”

Damon’s eyes narrowed. Chloe’s breath caught, fearing his advance, but then finally, he stepped back towards his captive.

“Yeah, fine,” he snarled, moving over to Sera where she lay squirming in the chair. “Stay still, woman,” he barked, and then cut Sera free and yanked her up.

Chloe released a bated breath.

“Now, the gloves,” Damon demanded, glaring at them in her hand.

Chloe hesitated.

“Let her go first.”

Damon’s eyes narrowed.

“Or same time,” Chloe amended, and Damon almost growled. “Count of three, okay?” Chloe asked, trying to keep her voice level.

Damon inclined his head slightly, and Chloe took that as confirmation, not sure that she’d get any more out of him.

“One,” she counted, trembling, “two… three!”

On the count of three, Chloe tossed the gloves, and Damon shoved Sera hard enough to make the slender woman trip. She tried to catch herself and failed, crashing into Chloe who tried to catch her, and knocked them both to the ground.

Damon caught the gloves, smirked, and then dropped the gloves as if he didn’t even care.

In the midst of untangling from Sera, Chloe saw him lunge with the knife and yelped. Forcibly shoving Sera off to the right, Chloe rolled left, just narrowly avoiding it as the muscular man came down with the knife, stabbing into the ground in the space Chloe had just vacated.

Damon turned his head to her and laughed as she backpedaled.

“Did you really think…” Damon asked, sneering as he pulled his knife free from the dirt, “that I would just let you go?”

Chloe’s back hit the wall and she froze up, stiff as a board as Damon crawled the few feet to her, a dangerous glint in his eye.

“After what your little girlfriend did?” he asked, coming to his knees above her. “And what you’ve seen?”

Chloe stared at him wide-eyed, utterly unable to move.

“You’re a right riot, kid,” Damon said, chuckling as he lifted her limp arm and pressed the blade into her wrist.

Suddenly, Sera flew at him, jumping Damon from behind, and wrapped her frail arms around his meaty neck.

“Leave her alone!” Sera hissed, startling him and accidentally causing Damon to slice left with the knife, breaking skin and making Chloe bleed.

“Bitch!” Damon growled, lifting the knife away, and stabbed it back into Sera’s arm.

Sera cried out, gasping, and Damon grabbed her by the injured arm.

Chloe watched, horrified, as Damon yanked Sera fully over his head and slammed her to the ground with a definitive thud.

Turning his back on her, Damon moved over Sera and wrapped his meaty hands around her neck.

Time seemed to slow as his fingers fastened around her slender neck. Chloe’s breath caught, and in that second, all she could see was Rachel. Rachel in the junkyard, being attacked by Damon. Rachel, having been stabbed in the arm. Rachel, bleeding out while Frank held back Damon, and all Chloe had done was watch.

Blinded by the images that assaulted her brain, Chloke broke from the stasis that held her with only one thing in mind.

_Not again._

Picking herself up off the floor, she grabbed the dagger from her belt and lunged at Damon. With every fiber of strength in her body, she brought the knife down on him and stabbed him in the back of the neck.

The dagger plunged into flesh and muscle with a sickly squelch. Blood splattered up from the initial wound, and then Damon stiffened up.

Meaty hands loosening from around Sera’s neck, he partially turned, eyes wide in shock, and caught Chloe’s gaze for a brief second of recognition. And then, he began to fall.

Heart pounding like a hammer, Chloe pushed his limp body away from Sera mid-fall, and then scrambled to Sera’s side.

“Oh, God,” Chloe whispered, seeing Sera’s bruising face and neck. Her eyes landed on the knife that was still sticking out of Sera’s arm, and her stomach curdled.

_Rachel._

Fueled by the horrible memory, Chloe swallowed back the bile in her throat and carefully but quickly stretched an arm out under Sera’s neck.

“Can you walk?” she asked the mother, who weakly lifted her good arm around Chloe’s neck.

“I saw you in the play,” Sera murmured, not quite meeting her eyes, even as she stared at Chloe’s face. “You were funny…”

“Fuck it,” Chloe cursed, and sliding her second arm under Sera’s legs, she hoisted with all her strength, stumbling a little, and then finally lifted Sera into her arms.

Already huffing with the effort of it, Chloe ran as fast as she could, maneuvering Sera through the doorways and out of the mill until she brought the frail mother to her truck. Managing to open the car door with her pinky, she put Sera into the passenger seat as quickly and gently as possible.

Slamming the door behind her, she raced to the other side of the truck and got in. Black spots danced in front of her eyes as she revved the engine, bringing the truck to life.

“Fucking cigarettes,” Chloe cursed, fighting off the urge to faint.

“Chloe…” Sera murmured, and Chloe glanced over, seeing her one good eye misted and unclear. “My daughter…”

“I’ll get you there, Sera,” Chloe promised, unable to contain the fear in her voice. “Just hold on.”

Clutching the wheel in a white-knuckled grip, Chloe drove to the hospital for the second time that day.

A/N: This is my interpretation of how the end should have gone if it hadn’t been plagued by bullshit. And if you think it’s bullshit that scrawny, unhealthy Chloe could carry Sera out of there to the car, I would ask you, have you never heard of adrenaline, my friend? But on the serious side, this is going to be a fic that deals with realistic aftermath of the events of BtS and this new ending, minus the facets that I consider bullshit. 

Briefly, that means that creepershits Eliot doesn’t exist bc he had no purpose to, Frank is dead and did not get to play ‘the lesbian’s hero’ except for at the junkyard, which is an incident that -he- caused by bringing Merrick there, Nathan’s picture in Rachel’s room doesn’t exist, and neither do the undertones of Rachel’s alcoholic/drug abuse. In my opinion, Rachel has more than enough flaws/issues to overcome with her temper, lone wolfness, and her tendency to get what she wants, and there’s no reason to throw extra dirt onto these lovely lesbians. Also, I changed the office scene, and that’ll be covered in the next chapter.

This story will be a realistic take on BtS aftermath -without- erasing the entire story of connecting deeply to another girl by idiotic endings. Stick around if you’re into that. I hope you enjoyed the first bit! Following chapters will be a little longer.


	2. Chapter 1

  
Sitting upright, Chloe stared at the white wall opposite her hospital bed. Beside her, a worried nurse stitched up the diagonal gash that Damon had cut across her wrist.

“You’re doing well,” the nurse complimented.

Chloe didn’t respond to the statement, didn’t even flinch as the experienced nurse prodded her tender skin over and over with the sharp needle, closing the wound.

“Will she be okay?” she finally asked.

“The woman you brought in?” the nurse questioned.

“Sera,” Chloe corrected.

“Sera,” the nurse amended gently, “She’s in the ER now, the doctors are working on her,” she said, pausing, and then asked, “Would you tell me about Sera, Chloe? About what happened to her?”

“He had her tied to a chair,” Chloe relayed, staring, but not seeing through vacant eyes. “He hit her so hard, she fell.”

“He?” the nurse prodded.

“Damon Merrick,” Chloe answered, staring down the clean, white wall. “I gave him the gloves, but he came after us anyway. He cornered me and cut me. He’d have slit my wrists if Sera hadn’t jumped him. She saved me, but he stabbed her and threw her to the ground,” Chloe relayed as the pictures came to her. “His hands… they were so big, wrapped around her little neck... “

Chloe trailed off, and then blinked as the scene entirely vanished from her head.

“I didn’t mean to kill him,” she confessed. “I just couldn’t let him hurt her anymore.”

“C-Chloe, wait right here,” the nurse ordered, clearing her throat loudly to remove the tremor from her voice. “Don’t move, okay, sweetie? I’ll be right back with some help.”

“Okay,” Chloe agreed, not having moved the entire conversation.

Tying off the last stitch, her bedside nurse scurried off to the door, whispering fervently into a little call speaker on her scrubs. She stopped at the door, continuing to whisper in a hushed voice, and then waited a couple of long minutes until a male nurse showed up at the door. The two conversed a small bit, and then waited until two officers showed up. All four of them spoke in hushed voices for another little while.

Chloe didn’t mind them, didn’t really even notice the newcomers, not until the two officers came over to her bedside.

“Chloe,” one of the officers addressed, a softspoken man with kind brown eyes. “I’m officer Reppers. Nurse Anne has informed us of your situation. Chloe, can you tell me where this all happened?”

“The old sawmill,” Chloe answered, “it’s a couple of miles north of the train tracks that run through the forest.”

Officer Reppers looked up, surprised, and tapped his fellow officer on the vest. The other officer turned away and gave some orders into a walkie talkie.

“That’s good, Chloe. Very good,” Officer Reppers said, turning his attention back to her. “Now, can you tell me how you ended up there in the first place? How you knew Damon would be there with Sera?”

“I broke into Mr. Ambers’ office,” Chloe admitted, “and found the phone he’d used to contact Merrick. Merrick had Sera hostage. He said he’d let her go if I gave him the gloves.”

The officer nodded, exchanging a look with his fellow, and then asked.

“And the gloves?”

“They’re at the mill with Damon,” Chloe said, blinking as the memory returned. The knife had slid into his neck so easily, making a soft little squish with the first tear. Tiny flecks of blood grazed her, sprinkling her body in the same manner that a priest blessed with holy water. The blade sunk in deep, avoiding bone as it cleaved through fleshy tissue. It was a killing blow, but even after that moment, Damon had turned, choking, and gazed at her with the eyes of a dead man. “With what’s left of him,” she corrected. “It was some kind of evidence.”

“The evidence that went missing from the Crowbar Killing,” the other officer said in a hushed voice, and Reppers was quick to shush him.

“Chloe,” he said, reaching for the side of his belt for his handcuffs. “We’re going to investigate your claims, but until we can confirm your story, I’m placing you under arrest for breaking in and entering, and for manslaughter.”

Chloe didn’t even blink.

“Okay,” she agreed, and from the doorway, the nurse squeaked.

“Officer! Is that necessary? She’s in shock…”

Officer Reppers unclipped his handcuffs and opened them. He secured one around her uninjured wrist and fastened the other around the hospital bedpost.

“It’s for your safety as much as her own,” he said, glancing up at Chloe’s pale face. “There, is that too tight, Miss?”

“No.”

The officer nodded.

“This is just until we can confirm your story,” he told her while the other spoke into his radio again.

“Police? Chloe, what have you done this time?” a sudden growl at the door drew the officers’ attention, making them turn at the same moment that Joyce called out.

“Chloe!”

Officer Reppers and his partner stepped back from the bed as Joyce rushed in. David came in after, scowling when he saw the handcuffs.

“When are you going to give your poor mother a break?” he snapped.

“Chloe,” Joyce cried out again, dashing across the room to her daughter to take Chloe into her arms. “They told me you were hurt.”

Chloe didn’t raise her arms to hug her mother back, didn’t move at all.

“I’m fine, Mom.”

As David strode in behind Joyce, he frowned, quirking his head, eyes narrowing a little.

“Chloe?” he asked abruptly, and Chloe didn’t even blink.

“I’m sorry I disappointed you,” she said in that same tone.

“Oh, Chloe,” Joyce gushed and hugged her tighter.

David turned his narrowed eyes on the officer and barked, “What happened? You questioned her while she’s like this?”

“She’s sixteen,” Officer Reppers responded in that same, gentle tone he had used on Chloe. “Old enough to be questioned without a parent present.”

“What did she say?” David snapped.

“Sir… your daughter may have killed someone. It seems like self defense, but we’re investigating the matter.”

“He’s not my dad,” Chloe said, no usual hint of fire or defense in her voice when it came to David.

David’s eyes widened.

“K-killed someone?” Joyce stuttered, pulling away. She looked at her daughter to decline it, but when Chloe did nothing to defend herself, she turned to the officer instead. “There must be a mistake. M-my girl, she couldn’t-- ”

“Ned,” the other officer interrupted, indicating the pile of Chloe’s bloodied clothes and other personals on the stand next to her hospital bed.

Ned nodded.

“Bag ‘em,” he said, and his fellow retrieved a pair of gloves from the nightstand. The nurse followed him and fetched a few airtight bags for him to use.

Chloe’s eyes drifted their way as the officer carefully began to bag her personals. When they picked up her jacket, the man searched her pockets and eventually pulled out the rubber-banded cluster of letters that she had found in James’ drawer.

Chloe stiffened, her pallor going white and sickly.

“No,” she objected, real emotion entering her voice for the first time since reaching the hospital. “Those are Rachel’s,” she said and tried to reach out and grab the letters, only to be restrained by the handcuffs keeping her locked to the bed.

“I’m sorry, kid,” the officer apologized, putting the letters into a plastic bag. “They’re evidence now.”

“No,” Chloe repeated and tried to reach for them with her injured hand, but came up short. Her breath caught and she hyperventilated. “No, you don’t understand,” she said, rattling her cuffs as she pulled against them. “Rachel needs those. I need to show her-- Sera, she was there--”

“Kid, look-- ”

“I’m not your fucking kid. Those aren’t yours!” Chloe growled, yanking her cuffed arm and cutting herself in the process. “Give me the fucking letters!”

“Chloe?” Joyce asked, pale and aghast as Chloe violently thrashed in the bed. She stepped back, hands raising to her mouth in hapless horror.

“Jesus,” David cursed, stepping forward to grab Chloe by the shoulders in attempt to stop her from hurting herself.

It didn’t help; Chloe continued to fight for the letters.

“They’re not fucking his! They’re Rachel’s!” she screamed.

“Doctor Ness, doctor Ness!” Anne radioed in to her comm unit. “Report to room 422. Patient needs sedation.”

“You don’t need to do that,” David barked at her.

“She’s having a panic attack--” the nurse started to say, but David cut her off.

“Do I look daft to you, woman?” he menaced, “Of course she’s panicking.” David said and turned his head to the officer responsible for this.

“Give her the goddamn letters,” he snapped, and when the officer hesitated, he reached back and snatched the sealed bag out of the man’s grip and shoved it at Chloe.

Chloe stopped struggling immediately. Her voice lowered to a low mumble, and she clutched the bag to her chest tightly.

“Rachel’s,” she murmured, turning away from the occupants in the room. Rolling onto her side on the bed, she held them tightly in quivering hands. “Rachel has to see.”

“It’s clear none of you have been in actual combat before,” David growled, “or seen its effects.”

“She can’t keep those letters,” the stubborn officer said, standing up to David.

The nurse glanced between the officers and David nervously.

“Carl, back down,” the other officer, Ned, ordered. “We don’t have to take the letters,” he said, and Carl started to balk. “For now,” he added. “We will later.”

“Fair enough,” David grunted, turning his back on the officer to look at Chloe.

“Cancel on that call, Ness. Repeat, cancel on that last call,” Anne reported back.

“Chloe, sweetie?” Joyce called out to no avail.

Chloe didn’t acknowledge them, only clung to the letters tightly, whispering fervently under her breath.

Joyce took a few slow steps towards her daughter.

“David, what do we do?”

“Gotta tell her,” Chloe mumbled over and over. “Gotta tell her. Gotta tell Rachel.”

David lifted an arm and Joyce slid in under it, clinging to his side for comfort.

“Who’s this Rachel she’s mumbling about?” David asked, rubbing a hand up and down Joyce’s arm for comfort.

“I… I think she’s that girl that Chloe got into trouble with,” Joyce said through her tears. “Rachel Amber, was it?”

David choked.

“Rachel Amber?” he asked incredulously. “As in the DA’s daughter?”

At the sound of Rachel’s full name, Chloe quieted.

“Chloe,” Joyce called out to her in that moment, breath catching hopefully. “Is that who you mean? What do you need to tell Rachel, Chloe?”

Her questions were met with silence.

“Chloe?” she tried again, approaching the edge of the bed, quivering hand hovering over Chloe. She reached out and touched her daughter by the shoulder.

As soon as her fingers brushed Chloe’s bare shoulder, Chloe curled in and started mumbling again.

“Gotta tell her. Gotta tell her. Gotta tell Rachel.”

“Chloe, please,” Joyce begged. “Please come back to us. We need you. I need you.”

Chloe didn’t acknowledge her again.

Grunting in aggravation, David glanced to the single police officer still stationed in the room, the other having left with the evidence.

“You,” he growled at the man. “I need answers. What did the kid tell you? Leave nothing out.”

**XXX**

“She claimed that she found the gloves and cell phone in your office, James. The police are investigating the scene right now. They’ll be along to question you soon.”

James swallowed. His fingers quivered on the phone he had cradled to his ear.

“And Sera?” he asked.

“She’s at the hospital in emergency care. Sounds like she took a bad beating, but the doctors seem to think she’ll be alright.”

James exhaled a shallow breath.

“You alright, James?” the detective on the other end of the phone asked.

“No,” James confessed.

“Is there anything-- ”

“Thank you for this call, Dan. It’s been an honor working with you.”

“James? James, what do you-- ”

Hanging up the phone, James pocketed the mobile device. In the hallway of the hospital outside of his daughter’s room, his vision started to blur. He grasped at the wall for support, blinking away the dizziness and the dark spots that had started to appear in front of his eyes.

Taking a few long, deep breaths, he gathered his wits as best he could.

There was only one thing that mattered now.

Fighting the lightheadedness that threatened to take him, he pushed off the wall back to the door of his daughter’s bedroom. Almost tripping inside as the door gave way, he stumbled to Rachel’s bedside.

“James?” Rose asked in instant alarm. “Are you alright? You look-- ”

James held up a hand to silence her, and with the other, he took his daughter’s hand firmly.

“Dad?” Rachel asked, sounding frightened as well.

“I have to tell you something,” he confessed, incredibly winded. “I don’t have much time. Please listen, Rachel,” he begged, lowering his second hand to place atop hers. “I’ll answer your questions later. Please, just hear me out.”

Rachel nodded, seeming unable to voice her answer.

“When your mother came to town, I was scared. I knew you’d want to meet her, and I didn’t want you to. For your safety, I made the decision to cut her out of your life, and she threatened that. I’m sorry, Rachel. I’m so sorry. Even after she was doing better, I couldn’t bear the possibility of her hurting you again. I just wanted you to have a good life, a safe life away from her.”

“What are you saying, Dad?” Rachel asked in a hushed whisper, eyes wide and fearful. “Did you… do something… something to Mom?”

James’ eyes watered and he squeezed her limp hand.

“I hired thugs,” he admitted, chest aching to say the words aloud.

Rachel’s eyes widened and she tried to pull her hand free at once, but James didn’t let go.

“You did what?” Rose whispered, barely breathing.

“Just to scare her,” he hurried confessed, tears streaming down his cheeks. “They were just supposed to run her out of town, but then you and Chloe met him and-- ”

“You hired Damon?” Rachel asked, pulling her hand back, and this time, James let her.

“The man that stabbed our daughter?” Rose asked, eyes wide as small saucers.

“There’s more,” James revealed and Rachel could only stare in pale shock. “Your friend, Chloe. She found my stuff, the evidence I had on Damon. She went to exchange it for Sera’s freedom.”

Rachel whitened and visibly gagged.

“They’re both alive,” James informed quickly. “Chloe killed Damon to save Sera’s life.”

Rachel breathed once, twice, and then rapidly in short, shallow breaths. Her heart raced. Sweat beaded her brow. She tried to speak, but couldn’t.

“James,” Rose whispered. “What have you done?”

“I know it means nothing, but I’m going to take care of everything, Rachel. I’m going to confess to it all; Chloe won’t serve a day.”

“Where?” Rachel breathed, the question barely audible.

“They’re both here,” James said, understanding what she meant immediately. “In the hospital.”

Rachel reached out and grabbed her father by his neck, nails piercing into the soft flesh there.

“Where?” she asked again, and if her eyes could burn, James would have been a pile of ash.

“Chloe’s in room 422. Sera’s in the ER.”

Before he had even finished saying it, Rachel released him and swiftly vacated the bed.

“Rachel!” Rose called after her as the hospital door slammed open.

Rachel didn’t turn back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew! Got it out there! Well, I hope you all enjoy chapter 2 and the bumpy, but sometimes pleasant ride that's to come! 
> 
> I know I said last AN that there would be more explanation behind James' actions, but it's looking like that will come in the next chapter, not this one! Sorry about that!
> 
> Also, really special thanks to Egg_Rolls for her help in discussing the chapter, reading it over for me as I write, and especially for titling this fiction. If it hadn't been for her, you guys would've been stuck with a super crappy title like 'Aftermath' or something, so I forgot to say that last chapter! Thank you, egg rofl. Tossing my thoughts and ideas at you really helps, and I appreciate you listening! <3 
> 
> (Am I supposed to put a chapter summary above? hrmm... I apologize if it looks weird because I didn't. I usually ask egg these questions, but she's asleep! So next chapter will be fixed up with one! If that's the norm and all..)  
> Enjoy!


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